Fitting really, because little did today in Ohio State’s 35-28 victory over California at Ohio Stadium.

The Buckeyes (3-0) certainly didn’t expect to surrender 512 yards to a team that in its previous games had lost to Nevada and led Southern Utah by only three points after three quarters.

They didn’t intend to have their offense go into extended hibernation during the middle of the game.

Committing 11 penalties, including four personal fouls, was not on the to-do list, either.

Yet for all the mistakes that will cause tape review to be a long, grueling grind, what mattered most to the Buckeyes was that they somehow escaped.

Yes, they can thank Cal kicker Vincenzo D’Amato for missing three field goals, including a 42-yarder with 4:20 left and the score tied. But mostly they can thank the still-developing but wondrous talent of quarterback Braxton Miller. The sophomore threw for a career-high four touchdowns, including the improvised winning TD play.

On third-and-7 from the Buckeyes 28-yard line, Miller dropped back and intended to throw a short pass to Corey Brown. But Brown was covered, and Miller started to take off.

He had scored the game’s first touchdown on a 55-yard touchdown run in which he made safety Alex Logan look silly with a juke.

When Logan saw Miller start to scramble, Logan left his assigned man, receiver Devin Smith. As he is taught, Smith raised his hand to get Miller’s attention and ran downfield.

It was. Smith caught the ball in stride at the Cal 38 and ran untouched into the end zone for the 72-yard TD catch with 3:26 left.

That was plenty of time for Cal to respond. The Bears’ three second-half touchdowns had taken less time than that combined.

But this time, the Buckeyes’ defense responded. On first down from the Cal 42, Buckeyes safety Christian Bryant intercepted Bears quarterback Zach Maynard’s off-target pass to seal the victory.

“Our guys found a way,” Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer said. “I have been in games before where I thought we were going to lose. I just kept waiting and thought someone would make a play. I really did.”

That it came down to that is cause for concern, though. Ohio State expected Cal to play its normal unconventional “Bear” defense using three defensive linemen and man-to-man coverage. Instead, Cal opened with a 4-3 alignment.

The Buckeyes, bolstered by the return of return of running back Jordan Hall from a foot injury, weren’t bothered by it. In their first seven minutes of possession, they scored 20 points.

But then Cal switched to its Bear defense, with some modifications, and the Buckeyes become flummoxed.

In the third quarter, Ohio State had four possessions that gained a total of 10 yards and no first downs.

“It’s really frustrating,” offensive coordinator Tom Herman said. “It’s something that we as a staff and myself as the coordinator have to examine why that issue keeps rearing its ugly head a little bit, because when we’re good we’re pretty dang good. But we’re not consistent enough.”

While the Buckeyes’ offense slept, Cal’s came alive. Brendan Bigelow escaped a near-certain tackle in the backfield to spin free for a dazzling 81-yard touchdown run — the longest by an opponent in the 90-year history of Ohio Stadium — to start the Bears’ comeback.

Maynard capped a 46-yard drive with a 1-yard keeper to give Cal a 21-20 lead early in the fourth quarter.

After Miller put the Buckeyes back ahead with a Tim Tebow-esque touchdown pass to Jake Stoneburner and added a two-point conversion run, Bigelow answered again with runs of 16 and 59 yards on Cal’s next possession to tie the game with 8:10 left.

Miller then threw a pass that was intercepted at the Buckeyes 44. Facing a fourth-and-1 at the OSU 25, Cal coach Jeff Tedford elected to give D’Amato another chance. That he missed and the Buckeyes took advantage doesn’t erase the defense’s shortcomings, even taking into account an improved pass rush that resulted in six sacks.

“We’re not sound,” defensive coordinator Luke Fickell said. “We didn’t do a great job of being sound. We didn’t tackle really well and obviously gave up way too many big plays.

“That’s disheartening for us. Our guys were down after the game. They felt bad. We’re going to make sure they understand that hey, we won, we got through it. Now the key is, how do we get better?”